Should you purify Shadow Palkia in Pokemon GO?

Should you purify Shadow Palkia in Pokemon GO? This is a question trainers are bound to ask themselves once they capture the Legendary Pokemon, freeing it from Giovanni once Fashion Week Taken Over starts in their region at midnight local time on January 15, 2025.

The straightforward answer is that you should not purify Shadow Palkia in Pokemon GO. There are many reasons and this article will break them down for you.

Note: This article is subjective and reflects the writer's opinions.

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Here's why you should not purify Shadow Palkia in Pokemon GO

Here the the reasons why you should let Shadow Palkia remain as it is:

• Better for PvP
• Better for PvE
• Rare find

Palkia in the anime (Image via TPC)

Better for PvP

Shadow Palkia outperforms the regular variant by a lot in Pokemon GO's Master League. The regular form is a bit of a glass cannon. As a result, having the additional 20% damage output helps it dish out more damage — while the 20% loss in Defense doesn't feel like much of a deterrent.

Better for PvE

Shadow Palkia emerges as the top non-Mega Dragon-type attacker in PvE battles. It even outclasses Origin Forme Palkia with Spacial Rend in terms of DPS. Additionally, it is now the most eligible candidate to use alongside Mega Rayquaza when attempting to solo defeat high-tier raids.

Rare find

Regular Palkia was available in raids from January 4 to 16, 2025, with unlimited opportunities to challenge these battles. However, Shadow Palkia will only be available from January 15 until the next Team GO Rocket event starts. The number of Shadow Palkia you can get is dependent on the number of Super Rocket Radars you have saved from the past.

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Unlike other Shadow Legendaries, there are no reasons to purify Shadow Palkia in Pokemon GO. If you want one for collection purposes only, Palkia raids will be available for two more days.

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To learn more about Pokemon GO, check out our other articles:

• Ditto disguises
• Buddy evolution Adventure Together guide
• Best Fast Attacks in Pokemon GO
• Sierra counters
• Cliff counters
• Arlo counters
• Giovanni counters
• Pokemon Type Calculator